27Jan 2012 by R&O No Comments

Glen fades gracefully

Celebrities, Entertainment, Music, Of Interest, People
Glen Campbell has alzheimer's and is slowly fading away. But he's fading away gracefully. A case in point is his last album Ghost on the Canvas, released in September of 2011. It's a masterwork of modern studio-conceived pop songs with enough twangy bits to keep the country fans interested. Some of the tracks are intertwined with hints and vague references to his past hits which makes you feel like you're listening to music you know. This album is probably his last as his memory is fading quickly, so much so that he can't remember visiting the doctors that are treating him or even recording the album. A sad ending to a troubled artist who's had his issues with alcohol, drugs, marriage and the law. To be clear, I don't like…
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01Oct 2011 by R&O No Comments
Queen Bootlegs

Queen Bootlegs

Music, Of Interest
Remember vinyl record bootlegs? Those round things with a hole in the middle made from plastic that bad men would produce from audio recorded at rock concerts? Most were crap (an example being all of the Grateful Dead stuff. Not because the recordings were shit but because The Grateful Dead were shit) but some were good and a few were excellent. An example of excellent would be some of the surviving Queen bootlegs released during their early days produced from recordings taken directly from the audio boards during concerts. I started listening to Queen years before they became famous in Canada, buying the first pink Queen album in 1973 from a small, musty record store in Duncan, B.C. (home of the world's largest hockey stick). My male friends and I…
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12Aug 2011 by R&O No Comments

Björk from Ork

Entertainment, Internet, Music, Technology
She's a bit wacky, a bit odd, and can sound like a scalded cat but Björk is anything but dull. I find her public persona a bit annoying and far too artsy-fartsy for my tastes but appreciate her talent and eclectic music sense. She's innovative and usually comes up with something that sounds little or nothing like anything else available. And that's a good thing in the midst of the bland, boring and predictable (yes, even YOU Gaga!) crap being spoon-fed to our young. A case in point is her newest music online offering which combines a cool iPad/iPhone app with her latest CD (does anyone even buy CDs anymore?). She's rolled the two into something called Biophilia which is available free from the App Store. Here's how Apple describes…
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05Dec 2010 by R&O No Comments
Great (Canadian!) Folk-Pop Music

Great (Canadian!) Folk-Pop Music

Music, Of Interest
While making my way to work the other morning I happened to hear acoustic soul singer and musician Reid Jamieson singing one of his original tunes on the radio. He was performing on CBC Radio's Early Edition Open House and Food Band Day and I was exceedingly impressed with his voice and music. I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of Mr. Jamieson or his music until that morning but upon arriving at work immediately looked up his web site and listened to a number of original and cover songs, some available for free download. Talented and generous...he must be Canadian. I've made a point to buy his new album Staring Contest from CDBaby (I don't buy music from iTunes...that's another rant for another day) and stuck it on my…
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